Those idiots on the train praise me yet they don't know who I am and they also curse the figurehead who supported my Irish victory

Just when you thought things at Hearts were settling down, an ugly chapter of its past rears its ugly head and brings shame upon the club.

Anti-Catholic bigotry amongst a section of the supporters has been a recurring problem. The decent majority have made great strides in clearing out the bad apples only for them to return.

Why folk feel the need to express such thoughts and hate at a football match of all places is beyond the most civilised of minds. Yet even with a number of draconian punishments waiting for those caught indulging in the practise, there are some who still persist with such bile.

The usual flashpoint is when Hearts play either Celtic or Hibernian - two clubs whose origins lie with Irish Catholic immigration.

Hearts' own roots do not lie within any Protestant or Unionist equivalent.

Indeed, the club was responsible in forcing the authorities to recognise Hibernian FC. The Scottish Football Association made it very clear to its members in the mid 1870s that they should have nothing to do with 'the Irish club' that had formed in Leith.

Hearts ignored this and duly challenged Hibs to a game. Others picked up on this defiance and in the end, the SFA had to recognise the Jambos' new capital rivals.

And it's been a rivalry that both have enjoyed - even when Wallace Mercer stupidly tried to merge the two clubs in 1990, both sets of supporters united to preserve their separate institutions.

Yet some morons in the Hearts support want to make that rivalry into something that it's not. Games against Celtic as well - even though it is not even a local derby fixture.

And they appeared on the scene last weekend when Hearts travelled through to Glasgow to meet Celtic.

Not to mention that some of those numbskulls actually seemed 'proud' of what they had done with their boasts on social media site Twitter.

Particularly the morons who, when in Glasgow, thought it was a bright idea to try and set fire to an Irish flag not far from where the police were ﻿standing. (EDIT: It would appear that this 'hardcore' rabble were so proud of their actions that they have since deleted the film from Twitter ensuring that the last link is now redundant. Talk about having the 'courage of your convictions'.)﻿Naturally, Heart of Midlothian football club themselves were far from impressed and released the following statement:

Hearts owner, Ann Budge, has had cause in the past to speak out against bigoted behaviour (yes the club's website using an American spell-checker didn't escape my notice).

However, it is extremely disappointing that she has had to do so again.

The warning was clear enough last time yet the pondlife element of the Hearts support preferred to take the view that their own anti-Irish Catholic bigotry was more important than the reputation of the club they claim to be 'fans' of.

These so-called 'proper Hearts men' (as they like to call themselves on fan forums) say it is their right to sing the Sash - yet most, if not all, couldn't tell you who King William III was, what his beliefs and aims were and why, the Pope of his era (a figurehead of whom these PHM shout "f*** the Pope" at the end of the Sash) supported him.

Again, these so-called 'proper Hearts men' say it is their right to sing the Billy Boys song - yet most, if not all, would not be able to tell you that this ditty is about a man named Billy Fullerton who was the head of a 1930s Glasgow razor gang who would assault Catholics. Nor would they be able to tell you that Fullerton was a member of the British Union of Fascists and even started up a Glasgow chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.

If they do know about Fullerton and continue to sing the bigoted tribute to him, then their racism is not welcome - regardless of what age these 'daft young boys' appear to be.

While the problem is not at epidemic levels like it is at Rangers - who unlike Budge prefer to look the other way when their supporters indulge in such behaviour en masse - it is still something that will cast a mark over the club and the decent-minded majority of supporters who do not indulge in bigotry.

Yes the prime responsibility to eradicate such a cancer from the Hearts support lies with the club but it needs support from other parties to help them do this.

A section of the media being one.

Assuming the 'daft young boys' are actually daft for one second, what kind of mixed messages are being sent out to them about how wrong their behaviour is when one club's support is (rightly) condemned for it, yet another team's set of fans has their conduct covered up?

Here's an example. The Ramsdens Cup Final of 2014 between Rangers and Raith was played in Edinburgh.

The fans of the Ibrox side were involved in some unsavoury behaviour in the Grassmarket area of the capital and it was reported as such by one newspaper.

Yet the local Glasgow paper, which Rangers fans are more likely to read than the Edinburgh-based one in the above link, took a more 'ambiguous' approach.

'West of Scotland football fans' eh? I bet the Milngavie-based rugby club of that named were delighted to see their support being confused for thuggish a section of the Rangers support.

No mention of who the club that those arrested supported were and even taking the trouble to re-label Rangers as 'West of Scotland'?

A quirk of the house style of that particular paper?

Perhaps but that claim cut no ice when the same publication today reported on the antics of the bigoted section of Hearts supporters from last weekend.

In the second paragraph, you are left in no doubt as to which football team these idiots support. Hearts are clearly mentioned.

No shushing up here. After all, had the same 'house style' been applied here as it was with the Rangers incident, those Hearts hooligans would surely have been re-branded as "East of Scotland football fans"?

Maybe having seen how the behaviour of one set of football fans had been dressed up, sanitised and re-packaged as to not reveal which club they followed, the knuckleheads from last week thought the same would happen with them?

Not to mention very little being done by both the police and the SFA when Rangers fans indulged in their bigoted sectarian songbook.

Who knows if the above are indeed contributory causes? However, such selectiveness doesn't help. This type of behaviour should be called out and accurately identified for what it really is.

The statement made by Hearts today was welcome. Supporters know where the club stands and hopefully more will be encouraged to report such incidents should they happen again.

Hearts will soon be playing Celtic again, at Tynecastle this time, thanks to yesterday's League Cup quarter-final draw.

No doubt the small group that is the moronic and historically ill-informed will try and ruin this for everybody.

They shouldn't and if they do, the club, the supporters, the police and the media must sing a tune that is from the same hymn sheet in the battle to drive out bigotry from football.

Well said, as a Celtic fan I have no time for Neanderthal types looking to cause bad blood between clubs. Hearts are routinely called the 'Wee Huns' or 'Diet Huns' by some Celtic fans because of the actions of the distasteful minority. Banter and even hostile rivalry will always exist in football but bigotry, racism and using chants about paedophilia to goad others isn't acceptable. The decent majority at all clubs should disown the utter fools who attach themselves to their respective supports. We want rivalry, we want excitement but not at any cost. Well done demonstrating that stereotyping Hearts fans as bigots is as false as stereotyping Celtic fans as terrorist lovers. The morons represent no one but themselves.

neil morison

29/9/2015 08:17:51 pm

It time that the majority of hearts fans who condone this behaviour join together to name and shame the minority who keep dragging the good name of our club down either by reporting them to the match stewards,the police or on social media. Together we can rid our club if these morons and continue to make Hearts a club to be proud off

Allyjambo

29/9/2015 08:54:14 pm

Thank you, Matt, for your efforts to shame the disgusting element that attaches itself to our club. Disgusting though the selective nature of the Herald coverage may also be, the important issue is that Hearts must tackle, and be seen to tackle, the problem head on. I am sure Ann Budge intends to ensure that this will happen.

Michael

29/9/2015 10:47:52 pm

Well said.

The ET has obviously been forced to change their original headline from "50 football fans shouted at passengers on their way to Celtic clash".

What had Celtic to do with this?

Carntyne Riddrie

29/9/2015 10:48:30 pm

There are clowns in every support but I'm delighted to read the above article which recognises the thugs in their own support.

Well done.

I hope other club's fans respond in a likewise fashion when appropriate.

Hans

30/9/2015 02:00:05 am

Thanks Matt, I will actually be over for the Celtic match - if you are around it would be good to see you! I am appalled to see these sentiments still exist. How I wish people would be more inventive about for instance soap dodging weegies rather than their sect. Hence I'm also not suggesting football stands should be restricted areas- rather the contrary! But it doesn't mean you can offend people by who they are from birth, (the?) people need to be a bit more sophisticated for Christ's sake!

Kieran

30/9/2015 10:01:11 am

Superb comments. Our (Celtic) away support need similar pressure placed upon them, however, it must come from within the rank and file of the support itself. No amount of official club statements will ever make a blind bit of difference to 'our morons'. Living in the North of Ireland I have continuously asked the press here to tackle the Scottish media in relation to the way in which they portray certain clubs, needless to say they are 'spineless' as what is on offer in Scotland itself.

Thank you for having the courage of your own convictions and standing up for all who want nothing to do with bigotry in whatever shape or form it takes.

Duncan

30/9/2015 10:57:34 am

Totally agree with the author of this piece.
There are fuckwits who follow every Club in the Land and the World over for that matter Football seems to attract them like flies round a turd.
Every Club has a responsibility to root them out and ban them good to see Hearts taking the stand they are and I think at Celtic (my Club) they should be doing more.
As for the support dealing with these clowns internally so to speak I doubt very much that is a great idea nowadays as the bam element are most likely carrying something to back themselves up other than their fists?
No better to make note of their seat numbers and pass it on and let whoever deals with this stuff do so through official channels.
Some might look upon this as grassing but personally I think more of it as protesting the thing you are there proclaiming to love..the Club.
Film them on the sly and send it to the Club they won't know but it will make it easier to find the actual culprit.
Failure to do anything will simply let it continue.
I like the way Ann Budge continues to run Hearts we could do with someone like her at every Club and I include that one currently plying it's trade in the Second tier who continues to play deaf every other week when it suits.

Duncan

30/9/2015 10:59:38 am

protecting'

David Wood

30/9/2015 03:41:21 pm

Thanks for this article. Well written. As a Hearts supporter of nearly 60 years, I am constantly embarrassed by the mouthy actions of a few morons who would appear to have the IQ of a Scotch Pie. They will never learn. They seem to see it as a bit of fun, and are simply too thick to really understand the impact of their actions. I think it is time Ann Budge simply banned them from attending matches, if that is possible.

Norrie

30/9/2015 04:59:07 pm

Well written article and agree with everything you state. As a Hearts fan all my adult life I have argued with these morons who disgrace the club unfortunately you are dealing with organised right wing unionist & racist groups who encourage youngsters to sing these songs and justify their actions. In some ways I have given up as we are not just dealing with daft laddies but organised infiltration. At least the majority of Hearts fans don't agree with these types of fans. The other problem is that if you do challenge their behaviour most are intimidated and abused so they don't and so are less likely to complain because of the aggressive nature of these bigots. Still I hope more fans will take up the baton and challenge their behaviour and not be put off by the aggressive and intimidating response.